The value of mergers and acquisitions in the mining sector more than doubled to $96.3 billion in the first six months of the year and could top $200 billion for the whole of 2011 says a new research report. Canadian companies – both as acquirers and as the targets of buyers – dominated corporate finance activity in the first half shaking on more than a deal a day and at 325 deals accounting for almost two-thirds of all the metals and minerals transactions carried out around the world.

Indian Express reports Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, currently holidaying in Mauritius, is among a slew of politicians, many of them from the BJP party, set to be named in a damning 8,000-page report on the illegal plunder of the Indian state’s iron ore resources over a decade. The report from the Lokayukta, an anti-corruption ombudsman organization, may lead to so called President's rule in Karnataka when a state legislature is dissolved or suspended and the state is placed under direct federal governance and is proving to be a huge embarrassment to the BJP leadership.

Financial Post reports Global X Uranium ETF (NYSE:URA) says that the uranium sector is showing some signs of improvement after the Japanese nuclear incident.

Grizzly Discoveries Inc. announced on Monday it has applied for a new metallic and industrial mineral permit in Alberta along the Saskatchewan border covering approximately 4,672 hectares to add to its existing land holdings of more than 2.4 million acres for its Alberta Potash Project. Stocks in the micro-cap company was steady at 70c on Monday following the news and is worth more than double what it was at the start of 2011. Apart from potash Grizzly is exploring for gold and base metals in British Columbia and diamonds in Alberta.

Namibia's Ministry of Environment and Tourism has granted environmental approval for the linear infrastructure for the proposed Husab uranium project to Extract Resources subsidiary Swakop Uranium. The approval, covering access roads, electricity, telecommunications and water supply, is the final environmental approval needed for the project. The project mining area received environmental approval in January. Extract is now waiting to receive a mining licence from the Ministry of Mines, according to managing director Jonathan Leslie.

Indonesia’s huge reserves of thermal coal — used for power plants — are being aggressively targeted by energy-hungry China and India. The demand, combined with high commodities prices, is driving a resources boom in remote Indonesian provinces, and creating billions of dollars in personal wealth.

Bloomberg reports BHP workers in Chile voted Sunday to extend their strike at the world’s largest copper mine. Stoppages at BHP’s Australian coal operations may resume this week. Thirty thousand South African coal mine workers including Anglo American and Xstrata employees walked off the job Sunday and may be joined by 160,000 gold industry workers. Strikes that started over the weekend are impacting output from mines of diamond giant De Beers. Workers are seeking a larger slice as global producers report record earnings: Melbourne-based BHP, the world’s biggest mining company, is expected to report full-year profits of $22.5 billion next month, almost double 2010’s net income. Xstrata may report record 2011 profit of $7.3 billion and Anglo American $7.4 billion, estimates show.

A freeze on licenses to explore for minerals is no small matter in Mongolia, a country undergoing a huge resources boom, as miners such as Anglo-Australian giant Rio Tinto (RIO) and the Chinese-backed Shenhua Group compete for the right to extract coal, copper, gold, molybdenum, and uranium. It is a resource play that is expected to bring a flood of money into the impoverished country over the next decade, centered around huge mining projects such as the Shivee Ovoo and Tavan Tolgoi coal reserves, estimated to be worth $300 billion and $400 billion, respectively, and the copper and gold mine Oyu Tolgoi, worth some $300 billion. (Image is of the Nadaam Festival, traditional Mongolian wrestling in Central Mongolia. Photograph by Oksana Perkins taken on July 10, 2009 / Shutterstock.com.)

After a weekend of stalled debt talks, gold rose sharply and hit a Monday morning high of $1,623 an oz before drifting lower. Lawmakers in the U.S.A. spent the weekend trying to resolve negotiations to raise the debt limit and reduce the nation's long-term debt. The Republican-led House of Representatives is holding out for a one-year deal with no tax increases. The Democrats want to see a mix of cuts and higher taxes, along with a deal that will pushes any future debt ceiling negotiations beyond the next election cycle.